{"id":1529,"date":"2021-02-22T22:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T22:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clockwork.com\/?p=1529"},"modified":"2023-11-07T18:06:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T18:06:47","slug":"vaccines-and-organizational-change-same-rules-apply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clockwork.com\/insights\/vaccines-and-organizational-change-same-rules-apply\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaccines and organizational change: same rules apply"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, I registered on the Minnesota Vaccine Connector site. If you\u2019ve been there, you know there\u2019s no new information on it, really. The list of who is eligible for the first round of vaccinations has been public for a while. And the health issues they ask you about match the categories of people who have always been higher up in the vaccination priority order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the process of registering reminded me of one of the core tenets of change enablement: get information out early and keep people in the loop \u2014 even when there isn\u2019t much new to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I work with clients, I always mention something Brene Brown<\/a> said at the Association of Change Management Professionals conference a few years ago: \u201cin the absence of information, the brain will tell itself a story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn the absence of information, the brain will tell itself a story.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The point being that, during a change (whether it\u2019s a digital transformation or an attempt to end a global pandemic), if people feel like they don\u2019t<\/strong> know what\u2019s going on, they will (a) lose trust in those leading the change, and (b) put what little they do<\/strong> know together in some way to tell themselves a story. It doesn\u2019t matter whether that story is accurate. It matters that it gives the storyteller a sense that they know what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to see how this worked for the Vaccine Connector, so I conducted a very unscientific study (read: I sent a survey to my colleagues and some friends, and 20 people responded). Here\u2019s what I learned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of those who registered with the site, 65% felt some mix of: <\/p>\n\n\n\n